Friday, March 29, 2013

365 polish for a year challenge: day 286 & 287

Hey everyone! This is going to be a super quick post. I've been feeling under the weather for the past few days. I caught a cold somewhere and I've been feeling very meh. I did have a chance to do my nails yesterday and today to cheer myself up a bit. I've also been enjoying naps, tea and chicken noodle soup. Please forgive me for the short update, but my bed is calling me, and I need to answer that call soon ;D

Brand: Wet N' Wild
Name: Sugar Coat
coats:2
pigment:a light ballet pink
price: $1.99

 A simple and very light pink. Looks nude like this, but once I started sponging the color with others it showed that it was just a very very light pink. I wanted this base color to show off an Easter/Spring manicure. I had something in mind that came out very nicely.

I forgot to take a photo with just the gradient/ombre nail with my camera. If you want to see it check out my instagram page  here. I sponged on different pastel colors on the the tips and then used Mash plate 45 with a flower design on all of my nails to match the pastel colors with a brighter polish. I think this looks came out beautifully and so playful!

Brand: Confetti
Name:  Bayou Blue
coats:2
pigment:a bright sky blue
price: $1.99

 Here we have a beautiful sky blue polish. I do like Confetti polish, I just wish they released more colors to their line. I have a few limited edition glitter polishes, but have not seen anything new from them since Christmas.
To add a bit of extra fun to this polish I decided to use a nail foil called Opal. This has a beautiful opal like effect over the nail. My only complaint is that you can see that it looks like a plastic overlay, even with the glue and a topcoat to seal it. I think it would beautiful in the sun, so I might give that foil one more go. I'm off to make some tea and grab that nap now!
  See everyone tomorrow and don't forget to follow me on Twitter and LIKE my page on facebook !

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

365 polish for a year challenge: day 279-285

A whole week away! Sorry I was away for so long, I had a very busy weekend! I went to a gaming convention this weekend and had a blast! Played some games, saw a bunch of friends and got a lot of free stuff!  Also got invited to a Garbage concert last night and had a really good time! But I'm back with some polish for you!  A lot of lovely Spring time colors!




Brand: Pure Ice
Name:  Drive Me Crazy
coats: 3
pigment:a bright orange with a pink undertone
price: $1.97
 
 This color looks more pink under the flash, but in normal lighting it looks more orange.  Now this color isn't as in your face as it looks (trust me!) But it very eye catching. This is a great color for the end of Spring into Summer. I'm guessing neon colors will be back in full force again next season, and this would be a great transition color.


Brand: Sally Hansen
Name: No Hard Feelings
coats:3
pigment:a beautiful pastel purple
price: $1.49 (clearance)
I am loving pastel purples right now, swear it's the season.  Such a calming color and gives me the feeling that Spring will be here (someday)  I got this polish when Walgreens clearanced a bunch of the Hard As Nails line. I always worry about this line being on the thin side, but I have been proven wrong by a few shades I have tried. I hope they release new colors for this line, the price point is very nice and the formula (most of them) have been very nice with great coverage.
 
Brand: Revlon
Name: Urban
coats:3
pigment:a deep purple
price: $4.49
 
 Oh talking about purple, let's go to the darker side of this color for a moment. I have had my eyes on Urban ever since it came out. One day my honey and I were out and passed a display with this polish on it. He told me to stop torturing myself and get the polish. He even pointed out that I've stopped at this color for the past few weeks (aww how sweet that he knows what colors I've been adoring!!)
 I've held off wearing this polish until now. The only thing I did wrong was do my nails and went to bed, so the finish isn't as polished as it usually is (my fault) and don't even act like this has never happened to you!! Every girl has done this at least once in their life.
 
 To try and smooth the polish out I hit it with  Sinful Colors Green Ocean. Oh I love the effect of this polish over a nice dark color. It looks so beautiful in the sunlight and would look great with an outfit out on the town.
 
 
 
Brand: Sally Hansen
Name:   Breezy Blue
coats:3
pigment:a pastel blue with white shimmer
price: $3.49 
 
 More pastel colors! Yeah, I had to try this beautiful light blue. It has a really nice white shimmer undertone to it. Sally Hansen added this color to their Xtremewear line a few months ago. This is probably my 2nd favorite line by SH other than Insta-dri. This had very nice coverage, I was worried it was going to be a bit on the thin/sheer side and would need a million coats. But it didn't, just a simple 3 coat application and I had full beautiful coverage.
 
Brand:Petites Color Fever
Name:  Daze
coats:3
pigment:a glitter polish with yellow undertone
price: $.79 (clearance)
 
I normally don't like doing glitter polishes by themselves. You know why, taking a glitter polish off is a pain in the tush!  But I wanted to try this beautiful green glitter polish on its own. This is with 3 coats, I could have added more to get full coverage, but it would have started getting thick on my nails. This polish would work beautifully with a green polish under it, or even as a glitter top coat. It's beautiful and bright, but not a really good choice for a stand alone color.
 
Brand: NYC
Name:  Grey Haze
coats:3
pigment:a deep metallic polish with silver shimmer undertone
price: $2.49 
I wanted to try this deep gunmetal polish that NYC made. I was a little disappointing by the application of this polish, It was super streaky when I applied it. I don't mind some streaks, but it was all over every coat streak-mania going on with this color. The polish is a beautiful color, but the finish takes away a clean finish for me. Very sad about that :(
Brand:Color Club
Name: Pucci-licious
coats:3
pigment:a medium creamy purple
price: $9.99/7 pc set
 
 Ok with this mani I forgot to take a before photo, but you can still see the polish on every nail but my accent nail. I used Kiss nail dress from my Nail It! magazine. Let's start with the polish. A beautiful and creamy purple with lovely pigment and coverage. The nail dress matched my mani so well, and was easy to apply and remove. No sticky residue, no trying forever to remove it, no fuss. I really like these and might pick more up in the future!
Brand:Funky Fingers
Name:  Evanora's Envy
coats: 4
pigment:a creamy pastel teal
price: $ 3/$5.00
 
Love this color! So bright and beautiful! Great for Spring (of course) and I feel like everyone is wearing/loving mint colors right now. Great application, but I must say the polish was a little bit on the thick side, but still had a smooth finish with the help of a top coat.
 
 I added an orange accent nail to bring a little bit of sunshine to this manicure. These colors complimented each other so well. I was temped to add a topcoat of glitter, but held off. I thought it might take away from the colors.

one last goodie! ELF's website had free shipping last week, and the limited edition Spring polish set on sale from $14 to $10. Well I picked up both 14pc sets from the site, and I just can't wait to put this polish on! Beautiful deep colors in one pack, and light and festive colors in the other!
So be prepared to see some more ELF on my site. Also, am I the only one that can't find ELF polish in their stores? I found some in Marshall's a couple of months ago, but my Target never has them :(
 See everyone tomorrow and don't forget to follow me on Twitter and LIKE my page on facebook !
 
 
 
 
 
 

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

365 polish for a year challenge: day 272-278

Hello everyone! Wow I have had a very good few days! I want to share with you all that I got myself a new job! I start next month! Getting flown down to Florida to do some training, and then back up here to start up my new career! I can't really go into details about it, but I will tell you what my new job is when I can tell you (yes it's a secret!) So, onto more great news, it's the first day of Spring! Yes mother nature/ father winter played a mean joke on the North East yesterday by sending us 6 inches of snow! We have sunshine today, so I'm ok with that now. Enough chit chat, onto the polish!

 
 
 
Brand:  Simple Pleasure
Name:  N/A
coats: 4
pigment:a thin medium green polish
price: $2.99/7pc set (clearance)
 This polish went on very smoothly, and did dry a bit lumpy/matte. so I hit it with a top coat to help smooth it out and to add a bit of shine. This was the look I was sporting on St Patrick's Day. I am Irish, and I proudly wore green and enjoyed some very delicious cornbeef and cabbage! 
 To add a bit of a pot of gold into this manicure I added a gold accent nail.  After looking at my nails I decided to go back to a matte finish on the green nails so I hit them with a matte top coat. I think it looks nice and helps the gold stand out just a little bit more.
 
Brand: Pure Ice
Name:  Naughty Girl
coats: 3
pigment:a bright metallic orange
price: $1.98
 I  asked my Mom what color I should paint my nails next, and of course she chose her favorite color...orange. So I went into my orange polish section and found this hidden gem tucked away in there. I've had this polish since last year, but totally forgot about it! It was a nice metallic orange with some flair to it. My only problem is that the polish did finish with some brush streaks, but I can overlook that with the beautiful metallic finish.


Brand: Loreal
Name:  Valiant
coats: 2
pigment:a mixed metallic platinum polish
price: $1.49 (clearance)
This was a polish that I got last year when Loreal re-did their bottle cap designs. This polish has amazing coverage and a beautiful metallic shine. I could have got full coverage with just one coat, but I went over one more time just to be sure I didn't have any thin spots on my nails.
 
Brand: Sally Hansen
Name:  Twisted Pink
coats:3
pigment:a bright pink with a gold metallic shimmer
price: $2.49
 
 Oh this is a hot pink. This is a total eye-catching, in your face, screaming out loud hot pink! I was in the mood to try this color on to do an ombre design with a dark color at the tips. I think it worked out well.
 
 
 Here is the tips done with a deep metallic black color. I think it looks nice with the two colors blending together. I think it looks really cool how it starts dark and then sparkles off into the hot pink. I need to mix different colors more often to get some new ombre looks going.
 
Brand: Color Club
Name:  Blue-ming
coats: 3
pigment:a sweet pastel blue
price: $9.99/7pc set
 Here we have a lovely pastel blue from Color Club. I found out that I got a set from their 2012 collection with all the pastel colors, I can't remember what  collection it's from. But I did find all the polish names for them, and well that really helps! I just did 3 coats of the beautiful pastel blue to help bring in the season right!
 
 
Brand: Pure Ice
Name:  Black Out
coats: 2
pigment:a simple black polish
price: $1.98
 
I had big plans for this black, but the end result wasn't that good. I did post it up on Instagram, but I want to just keep it a simple black polish for now. Nothing special other than it's Pure Ice and the polish is awesome.
 See everyone tomorrow and don't forget to follow me on Twitter and LIKE my page on facebook !
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Saturday, March 16, 2013

365 polish for a year challenge: day 270-271

A little bit of a late/early post today, depending on how you see the world I guess. Today I have a couple of beautiful colors. One is on the deep and dark side, and the other is on the happy and pastel side. Enough with the chit chat, I know you like looking at the photos more than reading this ;D
 
 
 
 
 
Brand: CQ
Name:  Slate
coats:2
pigment:a deep teal leaning more towards the green side
price: $.79 (clearance)
 We have this deep teal that is bordering on a forest green. I've been enjoying my CQ polish that I got on clearance, like I said before I'd buy it if the price point wasn't $4.00 a bottle. Now some of the polish did spread a little thin, and I should have hit it with three coats, but for what I had planned it was enough.
 I took the lovely Green Ocean polish from Sinful Colors and I put it onto of this deep polish to mix and match a deep glossy color with a bright and eye-catching green glitter.
 
 
Brand: Color Club
Name: N/A
coats:3
pigment:a light rosy-purple
price: $9.99/7pc set

I am loving Color Club pastel colors right now.  Seriously I blame it on the season! It was another cold day in New England today so I needed a burst of Spring in my day. This had beautiful coverage in three coats of polish and a nice glossy finish with a top coat as well.
I added a Mash plate design on top of this lovely pastel color. I used Pure Ice French Kiss to add the design. I was worried the colors wouldn't work together, but I was surprised to see they worked very well together. My only thing is that the blue does bring the rosy-purple down into the cooler shade, but other than that I am very happy with this design!
See everyone tomorrow and don't forget to follow me on Twitter and LIKE my page on facebook !









 
 
 

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

365 polish for a year challenge: day 260-269

Hello everyone! A very over-due update! I have been out of state for  five days working, so I was very short on time (and internet) to do any updates. I'm home and ready to share some beautiful polish with you!





Brand: Funky Fingers
Name: The Powerful Purple
coats: 3
pigment:a lilac purple
price: $5.00/3 bottles
 This is one of the new release colors for the new Oz movie. I have yet to see the film, but I am loving this cool purple. It went on very smoothly and had great coverage with three coats.  Funky Fingers one of my favorite lines, I just wish they came out with more colors more often.
 
 
Brand:  Pure Ice
Name: Show Stopper
coats: 3
pigment: a medium yellow
price:$1.99
 So it's sunny and bright in New England, it's an awesome 48 degrees outside (warm for this time of year, trust me!) and I wanted to wear a bright sunshine yellow. I was so happy with this application, if you paint with yellow you know what a pain it can be. This polish has a wonderful opaque pigment that  have great coverage, other than my Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lightning, this has been the only other yellow I will gladly use again.
 
Brand: Color Club
Name: N/A
coats: 3
pigment: a bright electric blue
price: $9.99/ 7pc set
 Ohhhh I'm loving this blue!!  I am a sucker for anything within a medium blue hue, and this falls smack dab right in the middle. The polish goes on a bit matte, but with a top coat it shines with an amazing glossy shine. I had a hard time capturing this color correctly because the flash was washing it out a bit, so this is without flash. I put some chunky glitter flakes on my ring finger for an accent nail.
 
Brand: NK
Name: 87 Green
coats: 4
pigment: a creamy green with white shimmer
price:$1.99
 I've had this polish for a while. It looks so bright and on the line of neon, but when I put it on and took photos of it, it looked a bit washed out. If you look close it has a white shimmer that washes it out a bit. Overall it has very nice coverage. It did take me four coats to get the polish to where I wanted it to be.
 
 
Brand: Color Club
Name: Lavendarling
coats:2
pigment: a  creamy purple
price:$.2.49 (clearance)
 I think because of Spring time that I am totally feeling medium purples right now. I got this polish on clearance when visiting New York, and had to try this color on right away. Again it had a bit of a matte finish, but I put top coat on it and made that shine come out.
 I really wanted a bow on this design!!! So I took a light blue polish and put nail striping tape on my nails. I hit my ring finger with the light blue, added a top coat and put a happy little bow that went along with the color combo. I though it came out so cute and adorable!
 
Brand: Petites Color Fever
Name: Creamy Rose
coats: 3
pigment: a  bright pink
price:$.74 (clearance)
 I found this polish at Rite Aid a few weeks ago hanging out in the clearance section. I noticed they clearanced out a bunch of Color Fever and CQ polish. I don't mind trying these lines on clearance because you rarely hear about them. This color did what Color Club does, dried to a matte finish. I hit it with a top coat and the shine came to life. Three coat coverage and a beautiful bright color, for $.74 was totally worth it.
I wanted to practice doing the border/color block nail again so I took a striping brush and started off with a border nail. Then I took the brush down the middle and filled in one side with the black polish.
 
Brand: NYC
Name:  Tudor City Teal
coats: 3
pigment: a light teal
price:$.99
I found this polish in the NYC basic line in CVS last month. I think they just added this color to the current line. This is a beautiful and calm teal polish that has great coverage and is a great price. I kept the polish as is because it just stood out on it's own.
 
 
Brand: Sally Hansen
Name: Olive Branch
coats: 3
pigment: a deep olive green
price:$2.49 (clearance)
 I've had this polish for a while now. This was part of the old formula from the Salon Manicure line. I think it was a limited edition release.  This is a deep and metallic green that I had my eye on for a long time and just waited for it to go either on sale or clearance. Well it went on clearance before it went on sale! With the help of clearance, coupons and employee discount I got the polish that was $8.99 to a delightful $2.49. Great coverage, a little streaky but a beautiful finish with a top coat.
 
 
Brand: Sinful Color
Name: Endless Blue
coats: 3
pigment: a creamy cobalt blue
price:$.99 (sale)
 
 Ohhhh I love this color. Sinful Colors added a few new bottles to the basic line, and this is one of them. It's a beautiful and creamy formula and a gorgeous pigment. I held off for a few weeks before I wore this color. The wait was worth it, I suggest having this polish in any collection.
 
To keep the look cute and simple I made it into a border nail with a light blue polish in the middle. This is one of my favorite looks to do with polish now that I have figured my technique out. Hope you enjoyed this long and over due update!
  See everyone tomorrow and don't forget to follow me on Twitter and LIKE my page on facebook !
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Monday, March 4, 2013

365 polish for a year challenge: day 254-259

Hello everyone! Went up into the mountains of Vermont this weekend for some wedding (and snowing) fun. I'm back in the city with some lovely polishes to share with everyone! I'm keeping the intro short and simple tonight, there is polish to look at!!
 
 
 
 
Brand: Petites Color Fever
Name: Vintage Gray
coats: 3
pigment: a medium gray
price:$.74 (clearance)
 Found this lil gem at a local Rite Aid on clearance! I've noticed a lot of the drug stores have been resetting their setups and have been marking down a lot of their non-basic polishes! I found this beautiful gray polish that was in an old Petites bottle. I couldn't pass up this lovely gray for under a dollar. Great coverage with 3 coats for full coverage.
 
 Forgive this photo, I took it with my phone. I did a ombre with another discounted/discontinued petites polish called creme blue. This took about 4 layers of sponging to get the blue to show up as bright as I wanted it to. I think the combo of gray and blue just go together so perfectly.
 
 
Brand: E.L.F.
Name: n/a
coats: 3
pigment: a bright green
price:$2.99/3pc set
This polish came in a 3pc set I found at Marshalls a little while back. This is a green and vibrant green with very beautiful coverage. It was a bit on the thick side, but it did smooth out once I hit it with a top coat.
 I took this beautiful green and hit it with a nail stamping design from the mash plate-42. I used Jordana Black (creative color name here) to bring this manicure to life. Looking at this design made me do a time warp to the 80's with crazy designs and bright colors.
 
Brand: Sinful Colors
Name:Sweet Nothing
coats: 2
pigment: a pastel blue
price:$.99 (sale price)
 I wanted to try out one of the other pastel colors I picked up a few weeks ago. This is just a beautiful pastel blue that is so beautiful and calming. This polish had great pigment and beautiful and smooth coverage. I just left the polish as is, kept it simple and beautiful.
 
 
Brand:Dollar Nail Art Foil
Name: Majestic Tides
coats: n/a
pigment: a wave of pink and magenta
price:$1.00
 
 
Yet again, another beautiful nail foil! This one looks like a tidal wave of pink and magenta rolling over my nails. This foil is amazingly reflective and shows up beautifully on camera (some foils do not show up that well with the flash) but this photo is very true to life. Loving these foils, just so shiny!
 
 
Brand: Dollar Nail Art Foil
Name: Sterling Roads
coats: n/a
pigment: a highly reflective silver foil
price:$1.00
 
 I have another foil that I used for a little manicure fun. This looked like tin foil gone crazy! It has bits of square holographic square bricks going over the foil. This showed up very well on camera with the flash (just like the last foil) This foil is hyper reflective and looks awesome under any lighting!
 
 I went with a light blocking design and a mix of a half border nail as well to mix with the foil and glossy polish look. I have to say my border nail skills have improved a lot! I  was a bit worried of screwing up the border, but when I finished I was very pleased with the results!!


Brand: Sally Hansen
Name: Petal Pusher
coats: 3
pigment: a simple beige
price:$.2.49 (with coupon)

I picked this polish up in a double pack (this color plus instai-dri top coat) at Walgreens with a coupon. I must admit the insta-dri top coat is probably my  favorite top coat out there. Back to the polish! I got full coverage with 3 coats with this color. I was worried it would take a lot of coats, but the normal 3 did the trick. I'm not one into the nude nail, but for some reason I am loving the nude nail with colors on top.
I did a rainbow moon manicure with multiple polishes! This came out so beautiful and clean! From left to right I used:
 Sally Hansen Rapid Red 
Sinful Colors Clementine
E.L.F. green
Sinful Colors Endless Blue
Sinful Colors Enchanted

this manicure took a very cloudy grumpy day, and filled it with bright and glossy colors. This manicure really cheered me up, and I hope it cheers you up too.
See everyone tomorrow and don't forget to follow me on Twitter and LIKE my page on facebook !